Suspect in Strip shooting seeking youthful offender status

A change in status has been temporarily granted to Michael Davis. He and co-defendant former University of Alabama basketball player Darius Miles are charged with murder in a shooting along The Strip earlier this year. 

Miles’ attorney John C. Robbins confirmed he filed an application Wednesday for Davis to be treated as a youthful offender. Robbins made the request to Tuscaloosa County Circuit Judge Daniel Pruet. 

 Robbins said he filed the motion because of Davis’s age. He was 20 at the time of the shooting. This move means Davis has been removed from the May 24 court hearing. His hearing will now take place in juvenile court on July 21. 

A youthful offender status is defined as someone who is under 21 who commits a crime but is granted special status entitling him or her to a more lenient punishment. A Tuscaloosa county grand jury returned capital murder indictments against Miles and Davis.  

Investigators say the gun used in the crime belonged to Miles, but Davis fired the shot that killed 23-year-old Jamea Harris on Jan. 15 on The Strip near the University of Alabama campus. Both Miles and Davis have been held in jail without bond since their arrest the day after the shooting. A judge denied bond for both during a Feb. 21 arraignment. 

Davis’s case will now be shielded from the public since his court proceedings will take place in juvenile court. There are no court filings requesting Davis also be granted youthful offender status. 

–LS–**-**